Doing these in bulk since I didn’t write an “I read…” post for each.
Here’s the list:
- Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
- Plum Island by Nelson DeMille
- Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
- There is No Antimemetics Division
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
- Count Zero by William Gibson
- Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
- Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Thoughts below.
Along Came a Spider
I first read this when I was a teenager. I didn’t remember anything about it except that I enjoyed it then. My reaction in 2026 is more tepid. It’s a fine thriller if all you want is a cat and mouse chase. The prose is serviceable, the pace is brisk, and the twist may surprise you. Alex Cross is a decent character, as well, but I’d bet money Patterson didn’t consult any black men while writing him. They would have, at least, cautioned him against his usage of the n-word.
Plum Island
A step up from Along Came a Spider on the thriller scale and also an intro novel for a reoccurring character. John Corey is a relic from the 90s, when casual racism and sexism were more funny than offensive. He’s a staunch practitioner of the act like an ass so people underestimate you technique, which is what allows him to solve the crime while staying ahead of adversaries who have more resources than he does. Enjoyable, but this would have been pretty different if it were written now.
Elantris
Brandon Sanderson’s first published novel. I’ve read a lot of words written by Sanderson and it was my reader-writer curiosity that drove me back to the source. Elantris was better than I expected and already showcased much of what lead Sando to being the paragon of modern epic fantasy. It’s a good read if you want a character driven fantasy story that balances physical conflict with idealogical conflict and magic with political intrigue.
There is No Antimemetics Division
How can you combat a thing that cannot be known? This is the core question at the heart of the novel and where it takes readers is unguessable. It’s sci-fi unlike any sci-fi I’ve read and that alone makes it worth investigating. Genre-wise, it’s a high concept thriller with a kind of existential horror undertone—whatever that means. If you like unique reads and sci-fi that makes you think, this is the one for you.
Six of Crows
I don’t know why there aren’t more popular fantasy heist novels. There’s a lot of opportunity at the interface where those subgenres meet. Six of Crows plays all the familiar heist beats—identify the impossible job, assemble the team, set out on the journey, early success, it’s all gone to shit turn, improvise a way out, and kind of succeed in the end. It’s the cast of varied wrongdoers and world that feels like it exists whether or not you’re staring at the pages that do enough around the heist template to keep interest.
Count Zero
A strange middle child in a strange trilogy. Neuromancer is the classic cyberpunk opus. Count Zero ditches most of what was familiar from its predecessor in order to broaden the world and set the stage for the finale. In typical William Gibson fashion, the prose is obtuse in regular intervals but that’s often okay (and sometimes the point). It’s the parts when you think it’s okay but it’s not that will bite you when you miss a detail. That’s the cost of being ahead of your time, I suppose. In short, Count Zero is a story about voodoo gods, corrupt future mega-corporations, hackers, and cyberspace.
Mona Lisa Overdrive
It’s very hard to wrap up a trilogy but Overdrive does so in a satisfying enough way. If you read either of the previous books, you should read this one. On its own it’s not going to make much sense. For that reason, I’m not even going to summarize it beyond saying it pushes the ideas and questions around AIs raised in the previous books even further.
Crooked Kingdom
Better than Six of Crows in every way and a fitting end to a duology I didn’t expect to enjoy so much. The already established cast are placed on their back feet early the novel, strapping readers in for countless circuits around the “can they really pull this off?” track. The characters are explored more, the world is given more texture, there are more heist-y shenanigans, and the twists are earned. The ending gives you most of what you want without being a happily ever after, which wouldn’t have fit if the author tried